California's $3-billion stem-cell research programme has finally acquired a new leader.

Australian Alan Trounson was named last week as the president of the San Francisco-based California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). He currently works at Monash University in Victoria, Australia, and has done pioneering work on in vitro fertilization and stem cells.

Alan Trounson will be the next president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Credit: MONASH UNIV.

Trounson's appointment has taken some by surprise. When the board of the CIRM appointed Richard Murphy as interim president in August this year, it was suggested he could stay until March 2008. The institute had been without a permanent president since Zach Hall resigned in April.

The first $250 million in bonds to fund the research programme is due to be issued by California state shortly.